Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Stormwater Beach topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
CRA analysis recommends WayPro valves, targeted pump stations and street raising to reduce Hollywood Beach flooding
Summary
CDM Smith presented modeling showing that redundant city-installed WayPro backflow preventers, two targeted CRA pump stations and selective street raising together reduce flood depths and durations on Hollywood Beach; board directed staff to inventory low points, press FDOT for maintenance/agreements and explore funding to accelerate two CRA stations.
At the Dec. 10 meeting, the Hollywood Community Redevelopment Agency received a stormwater sustainability analysis from CDM Smith showing that a combination of redundant backflow preventers (WayPro valves), contiguous pump stations and selective street raising would reduce king‑tide and rain‑on‑tide flooding along Hollywood Beach.
John Goldman, CRA stormwater engineer with CDM Smith, told the board the firm modeled existing conditions and multiple interventions. The CRA has already installed about 19 redundant backflow preventers on the city side; Goldman said adding a similar number of additional WayPro valves at vulnerable structures would cost roughly $60,000 apiece (about $1.5 million for 19 locations). FDOT’s pump stations, by contrast, are large capital projects that Goldman estimated at roughly $15 million each.
Model results presented to the board showed that FDOT’s two newly installed pump stations reduce flood depths by roughly 2 to 6 inches in nearby areas and shorten duration by several hours. Adding two additional CRA pump stations adjacent to FDOT facilities produced larger local benefits in the study area — in some places cutting depths another 10 inches and restoring pedestrian access on sidewalks — and closed modeled “gap” areas where single stations leave adjacent blocks unserved.
Goldman said raising low road crowns at tide-prone dips is a cost‑effective, targeted tool in narrow corridors where large pump stations are impractical; CRA work to date has raised some blocks and eliminated several low points, though he cautioned some locations cannot be raised as much because of adjoining private property elevations and existing structures.
Board members and staff discussed next steps. The board directed staff to:
- Prioritize repair and maintenance of leaking FDOT outfall backflow preventers and press FDOT for procurement/maintenance records (CRA legal staff said public-records requests are active). - Prepare a visual inventory of Central Beach streets with dips and evaluate the cost and harmonization needs required to raise them; staff noted as‑built surveys exist and a focused in-house review could be done first. - Consider an ordinance or code changes to require private outfalls into the intracoastal to install backflow prevention where they currently drain to the intercoastal. - Evaluate accelerating design and construction of two CRA pump stations where one is already permitted and the other is in preliminary design, with the goal of reducing local flood depths immediately while pursuing cost-share and reimbursement agreements with FDOT.
Public comment highlighted local pedestrian impacts at low points, and board members discussed alternatives such as underground storage, property-owner agreements for swales, and funding sources including the Broward County transportation penny funds. The board did not take votes on capital expenditures at the meeting but asked staff to return with cost estimates and potential funding pathways.
